> Now when my modem starts getting twitchy, I get an email which is my
> cue to call the help desk and get somebody working on it [...]

Definitely a good use for Perl. For similar monitoring purposes, we extended the script to also attempt to automatically put the help desk to work when switch ports hit their 8th MAC address and port security kicked in to block new MAC addresses.

Since you mention your connection is still workable when you get a message, perhaps it's a nice touch to actively alert the helpdesk automatically ;)

Next thing might be logging their responses and response times to determine their learning curve over the course of time.

I've already learned I can drastically cut down the time spent determining the problem if I just start the cable guy at the entry point to the home rather than the modem itself. Otherwise the guy will be prone to blaming (and replacing) every wire and connector between the modem and the outlet first before accepting that the poor signal originates from outside the home.

I've got an insider at the cable company. Maybe I'll just default modem error emails to him if the quality of my service doesn't pick up soon. What's that they say about the squeaky wheel?